Event Date: February 12, 2013 - 10:00 am
Location: FSS4004, 120 Université Privé , Ottawa

PETER HAKIM, Inter-American Dialogue.

Presented by CIPS and the Centre on Public Management and Policy.
Free. In English. Registration is not required.

The session will explore the dramatic changes that have taken place in inter-American relations in the past 25 years. It will focus on (1) the initial success of post-Cold War efforts to shape a hemispheric community—through regional free trade and collective efforts to advance and defend democracy (which led to NAFTA, the Summits of the Americas, FTAA negotiations, and the Inter-American Democratic Charter); (2) the subsequent fading of the hemispheric concept after 9/11 and the US invasion of Iraq; (3) the rise of Brazil and Venezuela as new poles of power in the regional affairs; and (4) the diminished roles of the US and Canada in inter-American relations—and what should be done about it.

Peter Hakim is president emeritus and senior fellow of the Inter-American Dialogue. From 1993 to 2010, he served as the organizations president. Prior to joining the Dialogue, Hakim was a vice president of the Inter-American Foundation and worked for the Ford Foundation in New York, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. He taught at MIT and Columbia, and served on boards and advisory committees for the World Bank, Council on Competitiveness, Inter-American Development Bank, Canadian Foundation for Latin America (FOCAL), Partners for Democratic Change, and Human Rights Watch. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.